Kevin Hunt: Can A Retired Military Captain Catch A Scammer?

W.E. Smith, a retired Coast Guard captain living in Ledyard, received a phone call earlier this year he quickly recognized as a sweepstakes scam.

His next move should have been planting a dial tone in the caller's ear. Do not engage a con artist! But Smith, in a letter he later sent to the state attorney general's office and TBL, detailed how he tried to outsmart the scammer by play-acting as a willing victim.

Mr. Smith goes undercover? Though TBL does not recommend it, Smith's actions shows how difficult it is to outsmart a scammer. It doesn't matter if you're a front-line consumer, the state's attorney general's office or the Federal Trade Commission. You'd have better luck blindly sticking an outstretched arm into the ocean and pulling out a fish than tracking down a scammer.

The caller, who identified himself as Mr. Johnson, said he represented Publishers Clearing House of Granite City, Ill., and that Smith and his wife had won $750,000 and a 2013 Mercedes Benz. (Note that the real PCH is in Port Washington, N.Y.)

The prizes, Johnsons said, would be delivered two days later at 2:30 p.m. — but only if Smith sent $499 to cover the shipping and handling costs of the Mercedes. Smith was instructed to send the money by Western Union to a representative named Bruce Brooks in Granite City. (Anytime an unsolicited caller requests wired money via Western Union, it's almost certainly a scam.)

First, he wanted a confirmation email. Johnson agreed and asked Smith to call him after he received it. The confirmation email arrived, with an "actual photo" of the prize Mercedes and, like most scams of this type, a warning that telling anynone about the prizes could result in their forfeiture. It did not, however, mention Publishers Clearing House. The new sponsor was "Mega Global Winners."

"After receiving the email," says Smith, "I called 'Mr. Johnson' and told him that I received the email but that it did not ask me to send any money. I asked him to send me an email to tell me exactly how much I should send, and to whom I should send it."

Again, Johnson complied, restating his request to send the money to Bruce Brooks in Granite City. Meanwhile, Smith was checking the online phone listings to check the number Johnson had used to call. The number was listed as a landline in Jamaica.

"In my conversations with Mr. Johnson," says Smith, "he told me that he was calling from a company cellphone that allowed him to call from anywhere in the world and he lived in Portland, Ore., but worked in New York."

Smith coyly asked Johnson to send his business email address instead of the generic Mega Global Winners address so he could update him directly on his efforts to wire the $499.

"In reality," says Smith, "I was just hoping to get his email address."

Johnson promised he would send the email but never did. Instead, the day after the original call, Johnson called Smith several times with a message to call him. Smith refused to call until he received that email.

Finally, a day later, Johnson called and asked why Smith hadn't returned his call.

Not until he sent that email, Smith told him. Johnson would only give him the generic fake-company address.

"I guess we'll just have to give your money and the car to the next winner," Johnson told him.

"Do what you have to do," Smith said.

And that was it. Johnson gave up trying to scam Smith and Smith gave up trying to catch Johnson.

"Tracking these scams down can be difficult," says Susan Kinsman, spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office. "Indeed, once cash is wired to a scam artist, he or she quickly fades back into the shadows to await other would-be victims. Consumers greatly increase their chances of permanently losing money by wiring ash to people they do not know or who have not been independently verified beforehand."

The Publishers Clearing House scam, whether by phone or email or standard U.S. mail, remains a winner for con artists because people still fall for it. More than anyone, the real Publishers Clearing House wants it to end. So if you get a call, first contact the real PCH at 1-800-392-4190. If you get a suspicious email, forward it to abuse@pch.com.

Remember, you can't win a contest if you don't enter. Whatever you do, don't engage the scammers. Nobody ever wins that one.